User Reviews

Major Crimes, following up The Closer, tries to inherit the cult of fans from its predecessor by keeping its entire cast (except for the main, of course). I tried to go into this show with an open mind and not as much as a sequel. Mary McDonnell, a great actress, gets stuck with the most boring character possible. She isn't allowed to show any type of emotion at any times and she actsMajor Crimes, following up The Closer, tries to inherit the cult of fans from its predecessor by keeping its entire cast (except for the main, of course). I tried to go into this show with an open mind and not as much as a sequel. Mary McDonnell, a great actress, gets stuck with the most boring character possible. She isn't allowed to show any type of emotion at any times and she acts professional 24/7. Most annoying of all, she inserts herself into situations too much. Obviously as the lead character & as Captain of the LAPD's Major Crimes, she's bound to be around a lot to make sure the suspects are locked up and convicted. However, Captain Sharon Raydor is a nuisance and constant bother where she should just let the investigation hold itself. The main characters also have no chemistry or charisma on this TNT installment whatsoever, even less than their final season on "The Closer" where they were closer than ever. Not to mention that adding two more detective is not only excessive, but confusing to the fanbase. Major Crimes forces its viewers to focus on and only on Captain Raydor, who is constantly disrespectful and ignorant to any suggestions or insertions by her Detective Lieutenants. The biggest distraction in the room is the unnecessary addition of Raydor's adoptive son, Rusty Beck. In an backdoor attempt to meet the burden of getting into Raydor's personal life in comparison to Brenda Leigh Johnson's, the showrunners add Beck to show the compassion and care Raydor can have (which fails terribly). All of this is added onto a basic, if not terrible, kindergarten-like Crime Drama script. Even with McDonnell's unfortunately getting stuck with a mediocre character, the rest of the cast is colorful, well played and intelligent.
Unfortunately, "Major Crimes" is nothing as advertised, and has yet to prove how it is starting "a new chapter" in LAPD's Major Crimes Unit. If you look at it with enough of an open mind and without focusing on Raydor too much, It's worth watching if there's nothing better on. Just don't DARE compare it to "The Closer"…Expand

To TNT and Producers: if the show is renewed you must get rid of Rusty (to keep viewership)...
either send him off to journalism school in NY or kill him as a last resort. If it weren't for the
boring Rusty character, I would have scored it much higher. CB

The first two cases, involving a gang of murderous thieves and the death of a personal trainer, are ho-hum. McDonnell, a fine actress, finally has a chance to inject some dry wit into her stoic investigator.